There were a lot of things today that were really relevant to my school and really got the wheels turning. The flipped classroom article I thought was very relevant to not just technology PD, but to all PD in general. So often we do what I "Fly- By PD". Teachers get together, they learn a different way of doing things, they are very excited, they go back to their classroom and a week later that new and different way they learned is the last thing on their mind. What this flipped PD system provides is a system of support for the teacher to change their practice. And what this system really exposes is the need in every building for peer coaches who can provide that ongoing support.
I was thankful that we spent the last part of our day analyzing the aesthetics of district websites and not my school's website... which is not good. The analysis of the websites and the time we spent on effective presentations was yet another reminder of the many hats we must wear today as educators.
Check out Garr Reynolds some time. His work on effective presentations is great and has much more than the quick overview we did today in class. Thanks for your contributions in our discussions of the reality of the bureaucracy we all face to get to the heart of our work.
ReplyDelete"...support for the teacher to change their practice." Boy, isn't that the case! PD would be so more effective if there was support after the presentation. There is often the suggestion of further support, but so often the actual PD topic was a choice of the upper administration with no input from the front line, that it is easy to drop it, once the "obligation of PD" is fulfilled, because the teachers may see the good in the topic, but just don't want to take the time to implement it, because "they are just fine" already. :)
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ReplyDeleteHI Michael, I am probably echoing other comments here, but yes, some sort of follow-up in any PD would be amazing. It is almost never the reality, and when it is, it almost feels punitive, like, Have you been doing what we said?! I read an editorial this spring in the NY Times and it said how rather than making teachers feel bad about inadequacies (in this case we could put in technology), administrators should be mentors and coaches. I was subject to a new review process this year, and after lots of sweating it was determined the program would be dropped as it was impossible for the admin to get in all classes in a year doing these reviews. Anyway, our own new administrator got a lot of negative feedback as he would come in, write a few negative comments coupled with things like what he sees on the walls, and then email it as he walked out the door. All the sweat I put into my lesson felt reduced to a critique that seemed to me to miss all that was put into it. My point is, when i read that editorial, it reminded me that I would have loved my AP to say, let's work on this, here are 100 great ideas. But I think part of it was his own insecurity as a new administrator. Coaching, mentoring, rather than a punitive approach, would have been fab. And then checking in a month later.
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